Miami Open Day 7 preview: Rybakina looking for 11th straight win

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Elena Rybakina Miami 2023
WTA/Jimmie48

We can now officially confirm that Elena Rybakina

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The 23-year-old who represents Kazakhstan is perfect in the month of March, winning all six matches at the BNP Paribas Open and adding two more at the Miami Open. Overall, she’s won 10 consecutive times.

The No.10 seed is into Monday’s fourth round and a match against Elise Mertens

View Profile with a still-viable chance to clinch the rare Sunshine Double.

Miami Open: Scores | Order of play | Draws

And Rybakina’s doing it without her best stuff -- a measure of how far her game has come in the past year. The Wimbledon champion and Australian Open finalist struggled at times against Anna Kalinskaya

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but found a way to win in three sets.

On Saturday night, Rybakina looked lethargic in dropping the first set to Badosa. Historically, this had been a deal-breaker for Rybakina. She had lost 13 consecutive WTA 1000 matches when falling a set down. Three years after that streak began, it was over. Rybakina rallied to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

“It didn’t start well,”  Rybakina said later, “but in the end I just found some energy.”

Rybakina saves match point in Miami to extend win streak to 10

She might want to bottle that verve and sell it during changeovers.

Here is why Rybakina is suddenly so frightening to play:

Serving at 4-5 in the second set, down a match point, she escaped with a deft, delicate forehand winner. She can kill it softly but, when it’s called for, is also capable of thunder and lightning. Rybakina was credited with 60 winners against Badosa. When added to the 40 she hit against Kalinskya, she’s achieved the century mark -- in two matches.

Meanwhile, Mertens has been her steady self, navigating through three matches, taking down two seeded players, No.8 Daria Kasatkina

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. It’s Merten’s first fourth-round berth at a WTA 1000 this year.

Rybakina has won two of the three matches they’ve played.

Here's a look at the other seven Round of 16 matches, all to be played on a busy Middle Monday in Miami:

Top Half:

No.3 Jessica Pegula

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(first meeting)

Pegula lives about 30 minutes north of Hard Rock Stadium -- which has its pluses and minuses. She’s sleeping in her own bed, commuting on a daily basis, driving herself. Pegula said it’s less stressful energy-wise.

Pegula, Linette set friendship aside to ready for first-time meeting 

On the other hand …

“I have to stay on top of myself,” Pegula said. “I’m doing laundry at home. It’s just weird because I’m used to going to the courts, doing my laundry, picking it up. Then I am like, ‘Oh, shoot, I need to wash my match outfits. Like at home things pile up.’”

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      Miami: Pegula improves to 4-0 over compatriot Collins

      Her comfort level has been evident in a pair of straight-set victories against qualifier Katherine Sebov

      View Profile and Danielle Collins
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      . She won the second-set tiebreak over Collins at love.

      Pegula is now 8-3 at the Miami Open and is hoping to replicate (or improve) last year’s result, when she reached the semifinals before losing to eventual titlist Iga Swiatek

      View Profile .

      At the age of 31, Linette is playing some of the best tennis of her career. She’s ranked a career-high of No.19, largely based on her surprising semifinal run at the Australian Open. Saturday the No.20 seed was a 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4 winner versus No.14 Victoria Azarenka

      View Profile .

      No.23 Zheng Qinwen vs. No.27 Anastasia Potapova

      View Profile (1-0)

      Outside of Swiatek and Coco Gauff

      View Profile , these are the two youngest players in the Top 30, so we might be seeing a lot of this matchup going forward. Zheng is only 20 and Potapova turns 22 on Thursday.

      Zheng Qinwen

      Zheng Qinwen

      Jimmie48/WTA

      Coming in, they’ve both pulled formidable upsets. Zheng defeated No.12 Liudmila Samsonova

      View Profile 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Potapova came back to beat No.6 Coco Gauff
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      6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2. Down a set and a break before mounting her comeback, Potapova scored her first Top 10 victory in a WTA 1000 event.

      In their only previous match, the second round of last year’s US Open, Zheng hung on to win in two tiebreaks.

      No.24 Jelena Ostapenko

      View Profile vs. No.25 Martina Trevisan
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      (first meeting)

      Look at those seedings -- it couldn’t be much closer.

      Ostapenko was a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 third-round winner over No.13 Beatriz Haddad Maia

      View Profile , while Trevisan defeated Claire Liu 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

      By the numbers: Ostapenko maintains dominance of Haddad Maia

      Trevisan helped Italy to the United Cup final back in January but has struggled since. Ostapenko is off to a 12-7 start this season.

      Bottom Half: 

      No.2 Aryna Sabalenka

      View Profile vs. No.16 Barbora Krejcikova
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      (3-1)

      This is already the third time they’ve met this year.

      Krejcikova won the Dubai quarterfinal in three sets, but Sabalenka was a three-set winner in the fourth round at Indian Wells. Overall, though, Sabalenka holds a 3-1 head-to-head edge.

      On Sunday, Sabalenka was a 6-1, 6-2 winner (in 67 minutes) over No. 31 Marie Bouzkova

      View Profile , while Krejcikova defeated No.19 Madison Keys
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      7-6 (4), 6-3.

      Sabalenka -- who has won in straight sets 16 times in 21 matches -- is now 19-2 for the season and Krejcikova is 15-5.

      No.18 Ekaterina Alexandrova

      View Profile vs. Bianca Andreescu
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      (first meeting)

      Both players, looking to regain previous form, collected Top-10 upset wins on the way to the fourth round.

      Alexandrova is coming off a 7-6 (8), 6-3 victory over No.9 seed Belinda Bencic

      View Profile , while Andreescu fashioned a three-set win over No.7 Maria Sakkari
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      in the second round. Andreescu, with her 6-4, 6-4 third-round triumph over
      Sofia Kenin
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      , has a chance to win four consecutive matches at an event -- for the first time since she made the final here in 2021.

      “Coming back here I have amazing memories,” said Andreescu. “Hopefully I can continue the momentum.”

      This was the 10th Top 10 win of Alexandrova’s career and the first time she’s won back-to-back matches since the Australian Open.

      No.15 Petra Kvitova vs. Varvara Gracheva

      View Profile (first meeting)

      For the third time in Miami, Kvitova defeated No.22 Donna Vekic

      View Profile 6-4, 7-6 (3). The 33-year-old from the Czech Republic is playing in her 99th WTA 1000 event.

      Gracheva, the only qualifier left in the draw, has won her way into the main draw of the last four tournaments that required it – Linz, Merida, Indian Wells and Miami. She’s ranked No.54 and, including qualifying, has already won 21 matches this year.

      Gracheva had a signature win over No.4 seed Ons Jabeur

      View Profile in the second round and followed that up with a 6-1, 6-2 winner over lucky loser Magdalena Frech
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      .

      Marketa Vondrousova

      View Profile vs. Sorana Cirstea
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      (1-1)

      These are the two lowest-ranked players left -- Cirstea is No.74 and Vondrousova two spots back – a tribute to their resilience. Cirstea took down the trending Karolina Muchova

      View Profile and Vondrousova defeated fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova
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      .

      The head-to-head is 1-all, with Vondrousova winning at the 2021 Australian Open and Cirstea prevailing last year in St. Petersburg.